A few wiring quesitons

[Rawker]

i have a 4 player control panel setup, the control panel will have to be removable but i need to know if this is the correct way to do it. i

mount ipac (4 player) inside cabinet
wire buttons, sticks to 2 db25 cables
wire 2 db25 cables to the ipac
then connect the db25's together

i think i need 2 db25 cables because i have 4 8 way joysticks and 27 buttons but i'm not sure how many wires are in the db25 cable (i assumed 25) or how many the joysticks need.

my other quesiton is a little bit harder, i want to hook up a dreamcast inside the cabinet as well. i'm guessing that i need to hack a dreamcast controller (any links?) with a db25 cable and then double wire the 1st player's joystick and buttons on the control panel with another db25 cable. can i do that? double up the wiring in the quick connects on a joystick and button set? although i wouldn't be using both at the same time it would be nice to know if it's possible.

[Iori]

Link for DC controller hacking:
http://mywebpages.comcast.net/jdpyle1/controls_dreamcast.htm

The link is Sephroth57's so he can probably help you out if you have questions about it...  Sounds like you will need 2 db25 cables, but I haven't messed with this before so I am not sure on that one.

[crashwg]

Assuming that the joysticks are not optical, you will need 36 wires all together.

1 for each button       27+
4 for each joystick        8+
1 for ground                 1=
                                    36


[edit]just noticed you said you have 4 8-ways, that will bring the total up to 44[/edit]

[Rawker]

Thanks alot for the link Iori, do you know if the double wired 1st player joystick and buttons thing would work?

[Sephroth57]

yeah you got it right, 1 25pin for each players controls will be perfect, that way when switching to consoles theres no mess.

oh and that link isnt my page I just suggest it to people, its a very informative page though I wish i could take credit for it hehe

[Rawker]

so do you guys think 2 db25 cables is enough for the control panel?

and can i double wire the 1st player joystick and buttons? so that i don't have to switch any wires, just power up the dreamcast.

[Iori]

yeah you got it right, 1 25pin for each players controls will be perfect, that way when switching to consoles theres no mess.

oh and that link isnt my page I just suggest it to people, its a very informative page though I wish i could take credit for it hehe

My bad... I thought that was your site obviously...    my bad.  

[Negativecreep0]

two DC controls would fit in a DB 25 cable right?           you have 11 contact for each controller, plus one ground for both? so a total of 23 wires.    Is that right?

[Rawker]

yeah i think that would work out with 2 dc controllers on one db25 cable.

so does anyone know if i can double wire the joysticks

comp-----ipac------db25 cable----------
                                                           \
                                                              -----joystick and buttons
                                                           /
dreamcast--controller--db25 cable----

[Shieldwolf]

Would that work. I have a hacked dc pad, but I wasn't sure if I could do that.

[crashwg]

I'm pretty sure the general concensus is that you should not hook up the DC & PC at the same time.  So what you will wan't to do is hook up the I-Pac to one set of db25s and the dc controlers to another set of db25s and when you want to switch just disconnect one and connect the other.

If I'm not mistaken the reason being is that some electricity can go the wrong way from the I-Pac to DC controlers or vice-versa and to counteract this you would need a crap-load of diodes, which restrict electricity in one dirrection.